Burglary increase leads to raids in Englewood

About 30 law enforcement officers raided two Englewood locations on Feb. 1, culminating several months of investigation seeking to identify those responsible for an increase in burglaries in Englewood and the surrounding area.

Englewood Police Chief John Collins told the city council about the operation during the Feb. 4 study session.

“While we were investigating the burglaries, we identified a house at 4275 S. Acoma St. as suspected to be a location where stolen items were exchanged for money,” Chief Collins said. “The Englewood Impact Team began the investigation and eventually we joined forces with the Arapahoe County Impact Team.”

The impact team, made up of officers from several jurisdictions in the county, took charge of the investigation.

Dan Johnson, lead detective on the case for the impact team, said undercover officers bought a stolen car and drugs from residents at the Acoma Street location and from residents at a small apartment complex at 3411 S. Lincoln St. that apparently was involved in the case.

On Feb. 1, armed with two search warrants and four arrest warrants, a task force of about 30 law enforcement officers went to the two locations about 4 a.m.

“There were about a dozen people arrested including several individuals who had active warrants issued for their arrest,” the police chief said. “We believe this task force operation had a lot of impact. We hit them hard and we think we may have closed down this operation.”

Collins said all those involved in the case have been arrested and have been evicted from where they were living. Names of the individuals arrested have not been released because of the ongoing investigation.